


Let Me Protect You

by CoverFireGoddess880 (orphan_account)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Blood and Violence, Episode Ignis Spoilers, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Gang Violence, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Lovers, M/M, Noctis Has A Vagina, Outdoor Sex, Post-Endgame, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 14:33:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13719714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/CoverFireGoddess880
Summary: Noctis finally understands what it means to be a Shield. And that the sacrifice for love is greater than the price of duty.





	Let Me Protect You

**Author's Note:**

> I have been trying for weeks upon weeks to come up with some way to write an Older!GladNoct one-shot, and finally I have! 
> 
> And a little FYI, Noctis is still a man, but he has a vagina... soooo, yeah, because it fits him, I think. Weird, I know, but I love my demure, female-like, 30-year-old, scruffy Noctis waaaaaaaayyyyyy too much!!! And a dominant Gladio makes them even hotter!
> 
> Enjoy

“So, how come you brought me all the way out here?”, Noctis asked, stepping out of the dark red pick-up and dragging his long, white cape close beside him so it didn’t catch in the door.

Gladio turned and smirked from the other side of the automobile. “Can’t I take my baby out for a ride whenever I want?”

Noctis stared at his gilded boots, the setting sun reflecting off the gold. They seemed a little too big for him. “But I’m not a baby anymore, remember? I’m thirty years old, and a king.” In his own voice, deeper and raspier than before, that word sounded kind of foreign. But it was true.

“Yeah,” Gladio said, coming over to wrap his arms around Noctis’s middle which, in the older man’s opinion felt way too thin to be healthy. “I remember… but you’ll always be _my_  baby, no matter how old you get.”

“Kinda cliche, don’tcha think?” A gurgly chuckle forced itself out of the king’s lips as Gladio tickled his ribs and kissed at his dark stubbled chin.

“Not at all,” he replied, spinning him around till they stood eye to eye entwined in each other’s arms. And in the fading light of evening, Gladio truly learned to appreciate how the finer lines in his lover’s aged face, his longer raven hair graced by a few streaks of gray, and those dark blue oceans that washed over his heart anew with love and passion every time he gazed into them… everything about him screamed Noctis, the one and only Noctis Lucis Caelum he had fallen in love with fifteen years ago.

And he was gorgeous. Gladio made sure he knew that when they would lie in bed together: his gleaming, tanned, scarred muscles shielding his lover’s leaner, ivory skin, colliding with one another under the sheets, flesh slipping inside flesh, swollen lips parted as wet tongues danced down Noctis’s throat, muffled groans of pleasure that made Gladio growl and lower himself further onto the king, quick, tender thrusts that beckoned Noctis to scream Gladio’s name, chanting, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”...

In the middle of their heavy, sweaty sex, Gladio would whisper softly and breathlessly for Noctis to gaze into his eyes, ask him to keep all of his focus on his warm, dark ambers as he fucked him. All he received in response to this was a squeaky moan, blues flitting open and watching him with all intensity until they finished and snuggled close. The four walls of the king’s bedroom hid those secrets, those precious moments they kept tucked away for next time. They harbored the greatest love affair ever to come of age in Lucis, the romantic and enduring love between a king and shield.

He remembered how he looked before in the dark too though, when the world was trapped in peril and eternal shadow. The heavy lines of exhaustion gathered in sagging bags beneath his darkened blue eyes, the slur of his older tone that trembled with more pain than he let on, and the Ring of Lucii that clenched around his middle finger; dark and heavier a burden than Gladio could fathom, but silent as it kept him a prisoner of the selfish prophecies of his ancestors and the gods.

When he called upon its power though, it was terrifying. It brought only the image of death to Gladio’s mind, those burning, white cracks that broke through Noctis’s pale, lovely, soft flesh, fiery orange zigzagging along his skin as immense power rippled and roared within his frail body… What truly hit Gladio hardest, was when Noctis, out of breath and hanging on his knees, would say how much it took out of him. The weakness in his voice when he’d mention but not so much complain about his achiness, made the older man feel helpless.

Like a heavy chain had been clasped around his ankles and wrists, and there was nothing he could do to take Noctis’s pain away.

When Noctis was younger, a 20 year old all spry and aloof, there were times when he’d whine about the soreness in his muscles from constant running and walking or endless, tiring fighting, but Gladio would brush it off as either inexperience or a need for who he considered the ‘wimpy’ prince to toughen up and take it like a man. And that’s when they’d laugh it off, Noctis snapping back with a hungry whine instead of a pained one, complaining about Ignis not making enough food to last the day.

Things seemed a lot more carefree back then. A freedom they seldom took for granted, but never quite understood why they had been so blessed with such. The world was an adventure, a time for fun and laughter and memories; hardly any space for regret or sorrow, if ever they couldn’t find remedy for either one.

Now, life was different. Maybe a little too different, what with Gladio having to share Noctis, the king, with the rest of the world. They almost never had any room for one another, their private moments interrupted by important meetings or breaking news and the call to action for a speech or some other such nonsense. Everything used to be a hell of a lot easier back in the day, ten years ago when all they had to do was ask nicely for two rooms in a motel: one for Prompto and Ignis and to each their own bed, and one for the royal lovers.

Yet, despite all the weary troubles these newborn days brought to the king’s doorstep, the only aspect that seemed a relief and a true blessing… was that in this new world, there was no need for a Shield of the King.

Not anymore.

•••

The sun sunk below the horizon fairly quickly, leaving the two lovers to bask in the foreglow of twilight. Gladio’s big, hot hands rubbing and kneading into the gnawing aftermath of stress kinks in Noctis’s aching back, the king letting himself fall into his lover’s toned torso lying just beneath his tank top as he gratefully moaned his pleasure.

“Ah… I needed this,” he mumbles almost in a whisper, eyes closed and muscles relaxed. “Have I ever told you how grateful I am that you were born with such ginormous, magic hands?”

Gladio hummed, massaging down to his lower back and hips. “A couple times, but I like hearin’ you say it. Makes me want to work you even harder. Except I wouldn’t have to grab at you so hard if you weren’t wearing so many layers.”

“Dunno why I get cold so easily now in the middle of spring.” He unbuttons his royal blue, silk coat so Gladio can slip his hands inside, the goosebumps rising higher when those huge hands got closer to his flesh. “Mmm… Gladio, you spoil me, y’know that?”

A wide smile formed inside the forest of brown scruff on his face as Noctis snaked his arms around his nape and rested his head on his shoulder. “You deserve it, Noct. After all, you brought the dawn back… What more could we ask for? We’ve already celebrated Iggy, now it’s your turn, baby. Just say the word and you’ll be putty in my hands.”

“Is Iggy okay with that?”

“He insists,” he replies, breath hot with a tender kiss to his ear lobe, shivers running down Noctis’s spine. “No-glasses Iggy is tired of all the attention. You know he hates the spotlight.”

Noctis nuzzled into the crook of his lover’s shoulder, his hand finding Gladio’s ponytail to pull it out. His longer, brunette threads flowed just a touch off his broad, sturdy shoulders, tickling the king’s fuzzy cheeks as he slid his fingers into his hair and twirled the dark strands gently. “Who can blame him? I’d rather settle for a little celebration in bed, if you get me…”

Gladio laughed, giant arms enveloping his king as he swayed back and forth in almost a waltzing rhythm. It started to lull Noctis to sleep, but to the bigger man, it felt like the beginning of something much more intimate. “I can arrange for that, Majesty,” he purred into his soft hair, sneaking a kiss with each swish of their bodies. “I ain’t one to refuse an excuse for lovin’ on you every day.”

Noctis scoffed, pressing a gentle kiss to Gladio’s throat before he licked down to his crook and sucked on it, the raised surface of an old scar rough against his plump lips. He received a pleasured grunt from deep within his lover’s belly for that. “I love you…”

Three simple words, yet every time Noctis murmured them to him and only him, his heart soared higher than the sky.

“I love you too, baby… You’re way more than I deserve in my life…”

They remained there just holding each other for what seemed like so long, but was really only a couple minutes. The sky grew darker and the shadows gathered by the roadside, the peachy moon illuminating the grassy veil of the forest. There was no reason to fear though, with the return of the dawn all traces of daemons had vanished, even in the dead of night.

How the world ever turned out like this, Gladio didn’t know, but he was eternally grateful. He understood that it was something important Ignis had done that night, in Zegnautus Keep, when they found him knocking at death’s door all crumpled and fragile; his body thinner than a rail and riddled with those same ugly blinding cracks in his flesh, burning and raw… the Ring of Lucii on his left hand responsible for dragging him to this lonely corner of weakness, practically killing him and ridding him of all unworthiness in his bones.

Those precious seconds within which he used that accursed ring for the sake of the Chosen, for Noctis… It was all the Kings of Yore afforded him before ripping it away and tearing him off the pedestal of power they so selfishly offered. And strangely, much to the great chagrin with which Ardyn was certain he’d end Noctis and all that belonged to him, Ignis survived - he survived without a price to pay, without a single limb lost or a number of five senses stripped away from him.

He _survived_. Just like Noctis, only more fatal to the point where his breathing fell to a faint wheezing and his heartbeat barely reached the edge of his ribcage, almost a lifeless corpse. The night they arrived at the Citadel, confronting Ardyn as a company of five, Ravus included, there seemed to be something… - off about the daemon hoarder, his presence not quite so terrifying and abysmal as it once felt like it might swallow them up in a shroud of darkness and evil.

The way fate turned the tables on the tiny inklings of life in this world was a true mystery, and no one could have predicted this to be the final outcome. The king, alive and well, their precious city risen from the rubble and erected higher and grander than before by the light of the new Dawn, peace settling in and making their world its new home.

Home. In one word, the king and his royal companions would describe it all in one word: _Home_.

•••

Reluctant to leave such a warm and comfortable embrace, Noctis slowly pulled away and settled for just holding Gladio’s big hand instead, offering him a sleepy grin. Gladio squeezed his fingers, tightening his hold as he tugged him close to kiss him on the lips at last, out here in the wide open world. _Their_  wide open world.

Before Noctis could fully center himself on Gladio’s mouth, the larger man dominated his already, tongue going far and deep down his throat to keep silent those tiny, soft moans aroused from the prelude of slumber. Noctis’s tongue put up somewhat of a fight, pushing just to the very edges of Gladio’s canines until he was overpowered by his lover’s sheer lustful determination, dropping limply in his big arms. A short grunt of surprise left Gladio’s mouth when Noctis eagerly inched his hips up against his twitching arousal and lifted one leg up beside his thigh.

“Gladio,” he breathed, saliva dripping off the side of his lips. “Tell me why… you… brought me out-” A gasp. “Here?”

Breaking the kiss with a slick slide off his lips and moving down to his throat, Gladio answered huskily, “So I could get you alone… damn, Noct, you taste so good…”

In a swift motion, he grabbed Noctis’s thighs and effortlessly lifted him into his arms, gently groping his ample ass as he carried him across the metal guardrail and into a clearing in the woods. The dewy grass felt like cotton, the luxurious softness a perfect ‘bed’ for them in this wilderness as Gladio lowered his lover down onto the greens and loomed over him while peppering his neck with sloppy kisses.

“Baby, you’re still light as a feather… We need to get you eating some good food…”

Noctis moaned desperately, throwing his head back for hunger of Gladio’s mouth to kiss more than just his throat. “If you get me pregnant… I won’t have to eat… I’ll gain weight naturally…”

“You really want me to?”, he asks laughingly and pulls back, fingers impatiently flicking both his and Noctis’s belts open and sliding Noctis’s pants and underwear all the way off his legs. His boots followed shortly after. “‘Cuz I wouldn’t mind becomin’ a daddy to little Amicitias running around…”

The king’s face scrunched in humorous disbelief as he shimmied his body deeper into the ground for steady support. He knew for a fact that once Gladio started rocking, he’d be jumping. “Who said they’d be Amicitias? Caelums are heads of the household…”

“Not when I’m the dominant male in this relationship… they’ll take both our names, but mine goes last.” His darkening ambers flashed authority, but it proved more comforting than frightful for Noctis. Always.

“Alright, alright, I’m only kidding,” Noctis says with a chuckle, spreading his legs into an M, knees up to his hips as Gladio removed his own pants and boxers immediately. “I’ll get to be the lazy mama then, right?”

The sight of his lover’s private pinkness tickled his rock solid cock’s fancy, the older man shifting in as close as possible between Noctis’s bare, soft thighs. “Yep. Lie in bed all day and get heavy and plump, act all tired and moody while you sweat from hot flashes during your ‘pregnant’ moments, then wait impatiently for me as you’re moaning in your wetness and lookin’ all sexy doing it.”

Hoping to aggravate Gladio’s tendency to rush due to raging, primal horniness, he slipped his fingers down into his pink folds and tantalizingly spread his lips to touch himself. A smirk playing on his soft plump lips, he eyed his lover with a loving tease as he worked himself into a slick, sloppy mess. “You’d really like that, wouldn’t you, babe?”

Gladio let out a hungry groan, practically roaring for Noctis when he ripped his hands away from himself, pinning his wrists above his head. “You know it… I want you so damn much right now that it’s killing me.”

“Then take me, Gladio… please?”

“Okay, baby, alright… just relax while I do my thing…”

He began with tracing a finger through the coarse, dark hairs over Noctis’s entrance, a desperate moan leaving the beautiful creature below him. Just a tiny touch from this surprisingly gentle giant was enough to send fire coursing through Noctis’s entire body. “Gladio, t-touch me.”

“I am, baby,” he said, trailing his finger in circles around Noctis’s raven cluster of curls before releasing his wrists and bringing his other hand down to spread his pink folds even farther. He slipped two digits into his juices to crawl them along his sensitive bundle of nerves, Noctis’s hands already clamoring for something to hold onto in the grass as he bucked into his lover’s teasing fingers. Gladio’s gaze never once left Noctis’s face, ambers following a bead of sweat along the side of his face till it buried itself inside of that dark stubble. “Noct,” he says relatively calmly, trying to ignore the heated argument his throbbing cock was starting by pressing flush against his stomach. “You’re beautiful, baby… you’re so fuckin’ beautiful… but I don’t think I can wait too much longer.”

With the unintentional quickening of Gladio’s tickling, Noctis gripped at the grass so forcefully that he pulled some blades up in between his fingers. Already, he panted hard to the beat of his pounding heart, and with every slip Gladio made over his nub, his spine arched with more strength than he wanted and he couldn’t help but yell aloud into the night. “Gladio!” His head flew to the side, gasping to the smell of the woody scent of the forest. “Fuck… oh gods… S-sorry, babe, uh…”

Gladio cracked up, his heavy, low chuckle vibrating down to his fingertips. “It’s okay, baby… you’re wild, it’s natural. You don’t have to be sorry.”

“Ungh, Gladio!” His core tightening so unbearably fast, he spread his thighs even wider, Gladio’s fingers slipping down into his entrance and gaining such helpless, little moans from his lover. “Gladio, please, I want you inside… inside! Oh gods…” He strained to lift his head and set his weak gaze upon Gladio, pleading with those glossy, gorgeous blue eyes. “Please…”

Gladio’s smile came to his lips with every honest intention, the need to satisfy his king’s pleasures dominating the forefront of his mind. Gods, he loved this man… he loved his Noctis more than the world itself. When they were like this, wrapped up in one another’s hearts and hearing nothing else but the sound of their measured breathing, they were only human. Not a prince, and not a king… not a shield, nor a member of a royal order...

Just two simple human beings in love.

Gladio then withdrew his fingers and aligned himself with Noctis, still smiling down at him. In one slow, gentle thrust, Gladio sheathed his massive girth all the way to the end of his lover’s womb and laid flush on top of him, sending Noctis reeling up on his haunches as he grasped for Gladio’s firm shoulders.

Gladio was huge, though that might be a bit of an understatement considering the first time he entered Noctis ten years ago, it had taken a long time for the young prince to receive every inch of him. But encouraged by Gladio’s kind hushing, Noctis’s steady bouts of deep breathing, and the willing of his muscles to seize their protest and relax, finally it was done.

And Noctis wouldn’t have had it any other way; not when his shield turned out to be an incredible lover.

Many a night of two to three orgasms was the norm for Noctis whenever they had sex, Gladio spending every secret moment with his prince to learn just what made him feel good. And it worked, by the gods, their spirits only growing closer because of it.

Though Ignis would be honest in saying with absolute certainty, that they really ought to remember to shut the door before beginning their little dalliances.

•••

He sat deep within him for a few moments with his hands supporting his weight on either side of Noctis’s head, taking in all the wonderful aspects of his king that contributed to his natural beauty. His heart beat out of his sweaty chest as he gazed down at the steady rise and fall of Noctis’s breast. Longing to see those glorious sapphires behind his shiny eyelids, Gladio whispered tenderly against his stubbled cheek, “ _Noct_ ,” he kissed him.

The curve of his lips into a quirky smirk helped to tame the qualms in the pit of Gladio’s stomach whenever he entered him, the fear of hurting him always present when he covered him with his 6’6 body; the last thing he wanted was to crush his 5’9 Noctis beneath him. Relief washed over the larger man’s nerves when Noctis turned to face him, opening his bleary blues. “ _Hi_ ,” the king mumbled sleepily in reply, his grass-stained hand tugging on the collar of Gladio’s tank top. “I wanna touch you…”

“You okay? You’re not hurt or anything, right?” He lifted the hem and slipped his black tank top off his head in one quick flick of his wrist. Noctis hummed, tenderly bringing his palm down Gladio’s well-sculpted, but horribly scarred torso.

“No, babe, I’m fine. Great, actually… I can’t remember the last time I felt so relaxed when we did this. ...Nobody around to interrupt us.”

“Yup,” Gladio agreed, hands running up inside Noctis’s heavy layer of shirts to fondle his soft sides. “Just you and me, baby.” He leaned down to capture his lips again, the kiss starting slow with some lapping of Gladio’s tongue cupping Noctis’s as he thrust into him so carefully like he were made of glass.

“Oh, Gladio… fuck…” Noctis’s potty mouth seemed to have a mind of its own as he gave in to the way his body wantonly jerked and bucked against Gladio’s toned hips. His breathing quickened, arms wrapped snugly around his lover’s neck for dear life as he steadily bounced back and forth. “Fuck, fuck, fuck…,” he chanted with each forceful gasp, curling his legs around Gladio’s waist.

Rolling his hips in a rhythm that had Noctis’s breaths coming in sweet, little squeaks, Gladio sped up his pace and held his lover’s hips close to himself with his broad, sweaty hands. “Feel good, baby?”

“Yes! Oh, Gladio! Oh, oh, oh- Gladio, please! I love you!! Gods, I love you!”

By the uncontrollable shouts and the rapid bouncing against his groin, Gladio knew Noctis was close; his inability to speak clearly making the bigger man feel so proud of his passionate, laborious thrusts. “I love you too… b-baby…”

•••

“Thanks for taking me out here, Gladio,” Noctis’s smile glowed like a string of pearls in the dark, his lips gleaming inside his dark stubble as he dressed himself. “We needed to let off some steam… I can’t tell you how tiring kingly work is. Now I understand why Dad never had time for me.”

“I know,” Gladio says, already fully clothed and laying his arm across Noctis’s shoulders as they began their walk back to the road. “Too much work isn’t good for anybody… you especially, Noct. Plus, you just look so good when we fuck in the dark.”

Noctis laughed at his lover’s smug grin. “So do you, babe, but,” he sighed, letting his head fall on Gladio’s chest and hugging his waist. “I’m sorry for all that dirty talk.”

“Noct, I told you, it’s fine! You were in a totally different vibe and I get it, baby, okay? If anything, sorry I got angry about the kid thing…”

“You’re always angry though, love~”

Gladio glanced down at those dark blue eyes shining otherworldly affection straight at him. He hugged Noctis in tighter, ignoring that blatant, but true, statement. “Yeah… right. And you’re always-”

Their steps halted by the screeching sound of glass shattering, stealing wide-eyed glances quickly before they bounded in the direction of the truck. Coming to the edge of the woods, Noctis could see the guardrail from earlier, and it looked like light shone on it; but it didn’t look like natural light. It seemed a bit fluorescent, like a flashlight.

Gladio stepped out of the woods first, releasing his hold on Noctis and met the figure of a man almost his height. The man flashed a sly grin, thrumming a baseball bat on his shoulder.

“Well.” He clearly had a drawled accent, most likely from around here. “Look what we got here!” His dark eyes darted past Gladio and locked onto Noctis as he vaulted over the guardrail. He took a good look, lewdly eyeing him like a wild coeurl would its prey. “Ain’t you a pretty thing.”

Gladio pulled Noctis protectively behind him, his disturbed scowl the only thing that made the man keep his distance. “Who the hell are you?”, he demanded, grip tightening on his lover’s hand.

“Rather rude fer a fellow hunter, ain't it, boys?”

Shuffles in the grass behind them made Noctis whip his gaze in that direction as he saw two tall men come from out of the bushes, each with a bat of their own. He snuggled in closer to Gladio’s side, the gut-wrenching flutters in his belly signalling danger.

Gladio watched two more men, bigger and leaner than Noctis by a wide margin, skulk out from the other side of the truck. These two also wielded bats. “You’re hunters? What the hell are you doing way out here?”

A chuckle slipped from his lips. “Could ask y’all the same. Don’tcha know these parts are dangerous? Might wanna rethink coming out here in the dark next time.”

“You guys make a habit of going around at night and bashing people’s windows out?”, Gladio snapped, keeping his peripherals on those baseball bats. “Last I checked, hunters helped people.”

“Nope. Just yours. Thought we saw sumthin’ shiny we could sell, so we broke it. But there ain’t nothin’ to steal… nothin’ of worth anyway.”

One of the brutish-looking ones came forward, a bit of a gait in his step. “We _do_  help people! Just get bored sometimes, right?”

The man in the middle, whom Gladio assumed must be their leader, gave him a lopsided nod. “Yup. Now, mind explainin’ what y’all are doin’ out here? You look like you been wrastlin’ with garulas!” He caught Noctis’s gaze and winked at him, grinning at the blush on the king’s face. “You still look pretty as a picture ya do though,” he said, pretending to tip an invisible cap at Noctis. “Kinda rugged and sexy-like…”

“Shut the fuck up,” Gladio growled, catching on to the man’s intentions. He moved Noctis further behind him as the men slowly crowded around them. “What do you want?”

“Easy there, fella! Just tryin’ to be friendly with ya,” he feigned innocence, putting his hands up. “Can we talk? Seem like nice folks… Boyfriends? Husbands? Y’all seem pretty close, that’s fer sure.”

“Just tell us what you want,” Noctis piped up, peeking out from behind Gladio’s ribs.

“Hey, you’ve got a nice voice! Pretty face and a pretty voice! Nice combo, don’tcha think, boys?”

A couple of yeahs, mm-hms and some cat-calls fueled the growing rage in Gladio’s core, his temper about to explode. “Leave,” he barked, anger flashing in his darkening coppers. “Now, before I bust your skulls open.”

“That ain’t nice! Just wanna get acquainted with y’all so’s we know you’re safe and all that,” he says, tone still so annoyingly and disturbingly happy. “Wanna come shake my hand personally, pretty thing? What’s your name?”

The men inched closer to them, their boots heavy and slow. Noctis’s heartbeat thumped against his ribcage as fear crept into his fingertips, trembling in Gladio’s hand. “Gladio… please, get us out of here,” he whispers, but one of them overhears.

“I think we’re scarin’ them, boss,” a tall one said, laughing. “Pretty face wants to leave!”

“Aw,” the lead hunter frowns. “Already? But we just wanna be your fellow hunters! Y’know, maybe go on a couple of hunts every now and again…” He dropped the bat, the loud thump on the asphalt shocked the king, freezing him in place. “Sure you’d be a good help in the field, big fella! All big and tall… We’d be great pals!”

Suddenly, Gladio noticed just how close the men were and backed up, his eyes still stuck on those bats looming higher than their heads. “Look,” the slightest quiver in his voice, one Noctis had never heard before. “Tell us what you want, and we’ll give it to you, alright? We don’t have much, but we’ve got some money.” His hand ached fiercely for the grip of his greatsword, but these were humans. How could he raise a weapon against humans?

None of them said a word, only sneaking in as close as possible to Noctis, who felt the nervous shaking in Gladio’s whole body.

“We’ll give you anything,” he reiterated strongly. “Anything.”

“Hmmm, _anything_?”

Gladio stared him down as the sweat poured down his back, as serious as he’s had to stand in a long time. “ _Anything_.”

The glare in the man’s eyes screamed hunger, jointed with a wild lust when he licked his lips. And his lustful stare remained on Noctis the entire time. “How ‘bout you let me have that pretty little creature standin’ there? He’s a beaut! Wonder how he looks under all them damn clothes…”

The two tallest men yanked Noctis away, clutching him tight as he squirmed with wide eyes. “Gladio!”, he yelled.

Gladio spun on his heels and let all of his anger fly free at the sight of Noctis held contemptibly away from him. He made a move to rush at them, but stopped in the breadth of a grunt as the barrel of a pistol pressed into the back of his head.

Cackling loud enough to wake the dead, the lead hunter pressed harder into Gladio’s skull. “I wouldn’t move an inch if I was you,” he said, his laughter taking a permanent hiatus. “Now, I’ll make you a little deal: you let me have him for a couple seconds of wahoo, and then I’ll let you go! Simple as that, huh?”

Gladio gulped hard. Never before had he been pinned like this, never before had he let anyone snatch Noctis out of his grip. Of course, it came down to a choice between Noctis’s safety or his life; if he were honest, he’d pick both. But then his head might not look so good when he was done. The time he had wasn’t enough to make a logical decision, so he’d have to go for the safest option. “Leave him be,” he said, perfectly sane and in his element, despite the screams of protests in his mind. “Do what you want with me, but don’t you dare fuckin’ touch him.”

“Really? You really want me to shoot you?! But what about him? Won’t he be so lost without ya?”

“Gladio, don’t! Just… just let him take me, alright?” Noctis struggled against his human restraints and pleaded with his lover. If they shot him, he knew he’d be dead within an hour and he couldn’t let them get away with killing Gladio. This situation looked bleak, and started becoming a losing battle as soon as that gun was whipped out.

Gladio saw his king’s eyes, the fear and determination alight in those dark blue eyes that broke him inside and warned him to choose himself. His heart jumped into his throat, his own frustration choking him as he remembered that fateful night when Noctis returned after 10 years…

The prophecy was clear. And when it was finally fulfilled, Noctis would die. He’d be dead, gone forever. Until the moment it wasn’t, Gladio believed, though as angry as he was about so much unfairness in Noctis’s life, that his lover would die and leave him behind in the twilight of the new dawn.

But Ardyn was put to rest, and Noctis was alive. He sat upon the throne and the light slowly crawled over the horizon to grace their aged, worn faces with warmth and light after so long a decade of darkness and death. The first thing Gladio did then, was try to get Noctis alone so they could have their own reunion. He pulled him off the throne and into his lap, taking his place.

When Noctis jokingly asked if it was honorable for the him to sit in the king’s chair, Gladio shrugged it off and held him close, peppering his stubbled face with sloppy kisses. As it were, they fell asleep that way; entwined in each other’s embrace, sharing the throne till the promised morning after.

He had one mission in this world: protect Noctis till his own dying breath. He’d live up to that (ironically) and hold onto the vow he once made for his lover, his king. Just as he swore and promised to do.

He stood up straight, shoulders back and lip tight. Breathing deeply as he was sure these would be his last breaths in the land of the living, he spoke on behalf of the only man he ever loved. “Shoot me, and let him go. Just leave him alone.”

“Gladio,” Noctis said again, clearly and with every sense of authority. “I order you to stand down. Let him take me!”

“What’s this now? ‘Order’? You some kinda king or sumthin’?” He pressed the barrel deeper into Gladio’s skull, laughing at the pathetic empathy Noctis tried to convey. “You gonna listen to your ‘king’? Huh?”

Gladio’s mouth opened, but fell agape in silence. He couldn’t find the words to speak. He shut his eyes and prayed to whatever god was listening, for the strength to say something. And it might not have been what he wanted to say, but he said it anyway. The moment the words left his dry lips, he cursed himself, this world and the gods themselves. “Okay… okay. You can… have him.” His eyes shot open and glued his gaze on his Noctis, not leaving him for one second. “But if you so much as make him squeak-”

“Don’t worry ‘bout that, pal.” The lead hunter tossed his gun to another as he approached Noctis and held his chin up to look into his eyes. “He’ll be begging me for more once I’m inside ‘im.” He pulled his arm forward and gathered him in a hug, his arms squeezing him so tightly.

Noctis’s burden lifted a touch off of his shoulders, grateful that in that last moment, Gladio said yes. It was all he wanted; the absolute terror of these men shooting and killing him brutally kicking at his soul. “ _Thank you_ ,” he mouthed over the man’s shoulder to his lover, biting his lip to stifle those irrepressible sobs as he attempted a solemn smile. “ _I love you_.”

Gladio witnessed in great distress and to the horror of his realized fears, the lead hunter dragging Noctis into the woods. He heard Noctis let out a sharp gasp as he was roughly shoved up against a tree, his hands tied together around the trunk as they stripped him of his pants and undergarments. “NO!”, he yelled and took off, only to be slammed in the gut with the end of a bat. Arms clamped around his stomach and the breath knocked out of him, he fell to his knees as the pain engulfed his middle; the unbearable urge to throw up consuming all the strength he needed to get up.

“Where do ya think you’re goin’?” One of those large brutes mocked in a high, cringey voice as he stood before him.“We ain’t done with you yet!”

He toppled onto his side when the guy whacked him in the head, vision blurry and blinded with floaters. The next surge of pain actually did cause him to puke as he was kicked mercilessly in the gut over and over again as the other men came to him with their bats raised and beat viciously on every part of his body.

He tried to crawl away in the middle of this torture, but had the wind forced out of him as one of the men slammed onto his back and held him down. “Not yet, you big, dumb fuck! We’re not even close to done here!” He yanked his head up by his hair and shoved a dirty rag into his mouth, stepping off of him to kick him onto his back. Then, they all proceeded to beat him in his face, punching, kicking and brutally assaulting him till they broke something… or he died. Whichever came first, they decided, while their boss fucked Noctis senselessly against the tree trunk.

“GLADIO!!” His cries went unanswered and he feared his worst nightmare. “GLADIO!!” His ass burned and stung, the huge cock invading his body and fucking him hard as he screamed and cried, tears running hot down his face.

Torn apart and violently beaten and raped as they were being, the only mercy that presented itself in this darkness was that Noctis had given himself to them for the sake of Gladio.

Nothing else mattered.

•••

Rain pounded on the earth in the dead of the night, the breeze cold and wet as it shocked Noctis awake in the midst of the flooded grounds of green. Muddy water seeped into his mouth and caused him to gag, the violent jerking making his whole body ache again. He rubbed his eyes with grassy hands and looked up. It was nearly morning, the sky turning an ominous pinkish brown.

His mind went fuzzy as he tried to remember what had happened to him… no, them. _Them_ … He and… Gladio! His heart raced with the urgency to find his lover, cold and wet and bottomless as he was and very weak in his muscles. He attempted to stand, but lost his balance as his exhaustion hit him hard and he fell back down dizzy and gasping for breath. “Gladio?”, his voice shrill and raspy. “Gladio!”

Fearing the worst might have truly stolen Gladio from him in the absence of an answer, he pulled himself along the mud and muck, heaving and desperate to get the hell out of these woods. He tried calling for him again and again, his heart beating out of his breast when there was no reply. “Gladio?!”

The next thing his eyes landed on was a dark form in the middle of the clearing they had made love in, slumped over on its side all bloody and half naked. What gave away the identity of this figure was the low whimper it let out as it tried to flop onto its back. And there was no mistaking that heavy, looming 6’6 frame, no matter how crumpled he lay. He pulled his fragile, achy body faster toward his lover, the sight of him in the middle of that blood puddle filling him with dread.

Finally, he reached him and helped him over onto his back, Gladio arching at the sudden bolt of pain through his bruised bones, some of them possibly broken as they cracked under pressure. Right now, Noctis could care less about how filthy they both were, concerned only with the wellbeing of his lover. “Gladio?”, he whispered hoarsely. “Gladio, love, please… say something.”

Gladio’s right eye opened alone as he felt Noctis’s soft palms cup his scruffy cheeks, his other eye horribly bruised and swollen shut.

“Oh, Gladio…” Noctis’s hands ghosted over Gladio’s broken body as muddy tears fell down his beard. “Gladio, m-my love… What the hell did they do to you?”

Gladio was a sight, a real mess. His nose bled and seemed a bit crooked, his lips swelled up huge and red and looked like someone had taken a razor to them, his breaths came out shallow and hoarse as his lungs whistled in agonizing wheezing. A single tear slipped from his swollen, honeyed eye as he reached up trembling and let his bruised hand fall on top of Noctis’s. “No...ct… I…”

Noctis broke down, devastated by his lover’s weak tone. He took his hand in his and leaned in close, pressing a gentle kiss to Gladio’s swollen lips. “Gladio… I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry!”

“Noct…-” A suffocating coughing fit swallowed the rest of what he was about to say, his chest rippling in burning pain as he gasped for breath. He must be choking on at least some blood. He still couldn’t speak afterwards, the horrible pain paralyzing every ounce of strength left.

Noctis laid his head on his chest and listened for his lover’s heartbeat, the faintest murmur whispering against his stubbled cheek. He could hear the harsh gurgle of bodily fluids churning around in his lungs whenever he breathed, and it hurt him. “Gladio… They fooled us. They had us… I’m so sorry I let this happen, that they beat you and almost killed you…”

Gasping sharply, Gladio managed the most discernible of words. “I’m… sorry, No...ct… What did… they… do… to you…?”

Noctis gazed into that familiar scruff of his man with tears flooding his vision and a mouth full of cries that begged to be released. He kissed the palm of his hand. “They each… took turns with me, Gladio… They-”

His one good eye went wide. “You…’re hurt, b-baby… Noct, I… couldn’t… protect you… I have to…” He moved, so agonizingly slowly, to get up and go get help. He had to find someone, he had to get help for Noctis! He had to-

Noctis’s tender palm on his aching chest laid him back down on the soft, wet grass. He rose to his knees to look his lover right in the eye, and then closed them as he rested his forehead on his. _"Gladio..."_  His voice calm and soft and barely above a whisper, the embodiment of a heavenly angel as it wrapped Gladio in a brief warmth. _“Let me protect you this time, my love… Rest…”_ He kissed him once more, ever so lovingly soft on his red, swollen lips. Then he shrugged off his heavy, royal coat, and gracefully draped it over his lover as Gladio fell into sleep.

•••

His painful, desperate crawl back to the road had him in tears all the way, barely able to see anything in front of him in this thundering rainstorm in the eerie morning twilight. Leaving Gladio’s side was the hardest thing he ever did, but he had to if he was to have any chance of saving both their lives.

He soon felt his own body begin to fail him, the throbbing pain rising from his bottom and up into the core of his belly to where he wanted just to lie down and sleep. The brutal, rhythmic fucking of five, huge men, one right after the other had wounded him past what he could take, and he wasn’t going to last much longer now. But first, he had to return to the road. He had to, for Gladio.

That metal guardrail, standing so firm against the blackness of the asphalt felt like a god-send, hope running laps in Noctis’s shattered heart as he crawled, inch by agonizing inch, towards it. Shaky fingers clasped themselves around the steel rails as he hoisted himself up to lean over it, breathing a sigh of relief as he finally had something sturdy and strong to hold onto.

But it wasn’t long before he felt dizzy again, and this time nausea joined in, making him feel worse than before and about to faint. If he did, he most likely would fall into unconsciousness and there would be no hope for either of them. So he dropped back to the ground, very reluctantly with a painful groan, and pushed himself to crawl underneath the guardrail and onto the road itself.

If he could just make it to the road, perhaps a driver might spot him in the bright glow of their headlights. Maybe, just maybe… He laid himself in the middle of the street, sprawled out on his belly. He was so weak, and in so much pain… and the only thing on his mind was Gladio, lying in the woods all alone: broken, bleeding and on the brink of death. He cried and he cried, but finally, fell into peaceful unconsciousness now that he found some way to carry on for Gladio...

The strength to keep moving forward in honor of how many times Gladio, always strong and always standing beside him even when he couldn’t anymore, carried him in his weakest hours.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked, let me know if you did! Older!GladNoct gives me life!!!
> 
> *Edited* Oh, I'm so sorry I forgot some credit for this piece! Some of this fic was inspired by an awesome conversation with flailingthroughsanity.
> 
> Kudos and many thanks to you, my friend, for giving me such great ideas!


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